The addition of the FDA blackbox warning in July 2009 has increased awareness about the dangerous side effects possible for Chantix users. One high profile lawsuit, filed in September 2009 by the family of musician Carter Albrecht, caught media attention and detailed some of the potentially bizarre, abnormal, and deadly behavioral effects of using Chantix.
Albrecht, who had been regularly taking Chantix to quit smoking, was at his girlfriend’s home when he began speaking incoherently and acting violently, even hitting his girlfriend several times, shortly after taking his Chantix dose. When Albrecht eventually became locked out of the house, he pounded on the door and yelled, and a neighbor fired a warning shot with a gun that accidentally killed Albrecht. Albrecht’s behavior from the time he began taking Chantix was described as increasingly erratic and abnormal, although he was never so prior to taking the drug. In the lawsuit, Albrecht’s parents claim that Pfizer marketed Chantix while knowing it to be unsafe.
As of October 2009, there were 37 Chantix lawsuits pending in federal court. These suits against Pfizer included claims that Pfizer failed to adequately warn about the side effects of Chantix, such as suicide and depression.
Importantly, in October 2009, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all federal Chantix suits be consolidated for pretrial litigation in the Northern District of Alabama. This means that many new federal lawsuits are expected, and those new suits will then be consolidated with the others in the Northern District of Alabama for pretrial proceedings.
It is important to keep in mind that this consolidation applies only to federal lawsuits. State lawsuits will still be filed individually. An experienced Chantix attorney will help you as an individual determine whether it is best to proceed in state or federal court, as well as have specific knowledge of the state-imposed time limit for filing a claim in your state.
Check out the following articles for more information about Chantix, filing a Chantix lawsuit, and finding a Chantix attorney.